Diario de itchymoche

Spiders often intrigue me, however the seem to hold some degree of fright depending on the circumstance. In the past, I had gained a deathly fear of the larger species. When I was a very young boy, I can still recall the day I was playing with some friends in the meadow next door, and while running happily down a narrow path through the tall weeds and blackberries, I ran smack into a huge orb web. The sticky net wrapped around my face, stopping me dead in my tracks. As I clawed the web away from my head and body, there was this enormous black and yellow garden spider crawling up my chest. With a fast swipe, I swatted it away, only to see it return on it's web line like a yo-yo, clinging back onto my tee shirt. Of course I was horrified and finally knocked it to the ground, running away in a sheer panic. That one incident traumatized me for years to come, and I was cautious to ever enter the meadow trails again without a keen eye for the giant orbs.
Now much matured in age, I have lost my phobia for the most part. There have been a few incidents where I was a bit nervous, such as the time I stopped into the old outhouse to meditate, and once comfortable on the seat, I looked up to find a large furry wolf spider staring at me with its glistening set of eyes only a foot away. It never moved from its perch on the wall, but my time in that outhouse was cut short and I skedaddled! In one other memorable attack, I was cutting asphalt on a parkway with a paving crew. I can only assume that the vibrations from the cutter blade aggravated a huge gray wolf spider, who scurried out onto the hot asphalt near me in the prone attack position... it's front legs held high and moving very fast and agitated. I shut off the machine and stepped back from this angry little creature, and to my surprise, it quickly came back at me. I danced to the left and the right, as it continued its attack like an provoked hornet. I had never seen a spider act like this before. Finally one of my co-workers walked up and bravely kicked at it. In a flash the large spider disappeared... the co-worker fearing that it had jumped onto him. But as we scanned the entire area, that spider was never to be seen again. Even some time later, I found myself scanning over my trousers and shirt in fear that it was hanging there, that incident reliving a bit of arachnophobia in me.
It is now the time of summer when the new webs begin to appear, strung between the woodland trees like hammocks. As I scout through these many woods, I am on the constant lookout for those glistening face-high webs. I try to avoid them, however it is my habit to carry a spider stick and wave it out front to avoid accidentally wrapping one across my face again!.